Over the last few weeks there have been a number of key stories in the UK press. Two\u00a0are especially notable: the Francis inquiry into health care standards and the scandal of unlabelled horse meat in burgers and ready meals.<\/p>\n
What do these have in common, other than their prevalence in media minutes and column inches? \u00a0Both are about unexpected and once hidden failings in the quality and supply of a good service. \u00a0Both raise issues of legality and individual practice. Both raise issues about who you can trust in the supply chain \u2013 in terms of both its management and regulation.<\/p>\n
Where do they differ? One affects human health. And the other is not a lot more than a bit of a yuk to many \u2013 and only worthy of a laugh.<\/p>\n
Sadly, the NHS story is the one that is more profound. Already there are politicians in Europe decrying the scrapping of perfectly \u2018good\u2019 food (if labelled differently), at a time when increasing numbers of people face food insecurity. The health care stories raise issues that are, surprisingly to some, more rotten and that can\u2019t be labelled away quite so easily.<\/p>\n
Many are now talking much more worriedly and openly about health care culture and standards \u2013 probably a good thing.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the horsemeat scandal has largely led to plenty of photo humour <\/a>\u2013 and is already leading to improvements in supply chains that value more local sourcing and fair trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, maybe the question is not \u2018where is horsemeat in health care\u2019, but<\/p>\n 1) \u2018why the scandal in health care\u2019 (maybe it is a result of the sort of management promoted since the mid 80s\u2026an example of values in action where generalist leaders have been promoted to achieve a certain narrow set of things, and have done so pretty well) and<\/p>\n